Where We All Meet
by Vannessa Hillstead
Summary: Under the tyrannical rule of Cipher, anything's possible. This is just the beginning.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

O.O.O.O

_Eldes and Ardos have informed me of your plan to begin business with us. Naturally, we are not objecting. Merging with Team Rocket would allow us to have more bases in more regions. Orre is ours, and if we're to make the rest of the world ours, then we'd need assistance. Of course, you'll be immensely rewarded for your help and cooperation. _

_Signed,_

_Grand Master Greevil, Orre Leader of Team Cipher _

Giovanni leaned back in his chair, examining the note in some attempt to see if it was real, and not another phony attempt to gain his trust. He had heard of the success that Team Cipher had had in the Orre region; and he wanted the same for his team.

"What sort of rewards do you mean?"

Ardos simply smirked, and adjusted his glasses. "Cipher possesses a large amount of money, not to mention the entire Orre region. The region is under our control, and it will stay that way. Forever—"

"But, if Team Rocket agrees to collaborate with us, then it will be impossible for anyone to defeat Cipher, or Team Rocket. And we have the means to accomplish this goal." Eldes said, looking slightly nervous.

"Shadow Pokémon—they're more powerful than regular pokémon. With their hearts sealed, it'd be impossible to form any sort of bond with their trainer," Giovanni stated, "last I heard, the factory in Orre had been destroyed by a child.''

Ardos smirked, "Merely rumors, Giovanni."

Giovanni leaned forward in his seat, and scanned several of the documents that the two of them had given them; blueprints of the shadow factory, papers that explained the procedure of sealing the heart of a pokémon, and letters from Evice.

"Would this technology be available to Team Rocket?"

"I—"

"Of course," Ardos assured Giovanni, "that technology led to us claiming Orre as our own. It'll be vital to you; especially if you wish to conquer the Kanto region."

Giovanni glanced at the two of them briefly, wondering if what they said was the truth. On one hand, they could just want access to the new pokémon that had been discovered in the Sinnoh region, as wild pokémon were very rare in Orre—nearly impossible to find.

"Gentlemen; I believe that we have reached an agreement. Team Rocket will have access to the shadow factory, in exchange; we will help you maintain your influence in the Orre region."

It was at that moment, that the door swung open, causing Eldes and Ardos to jump away from the door.

Jessie and James had fallen to the floor, as had Meowth; it was apparent to Giovanni that they had been eavesdropping on the entire conversation.

"Jessie. James. What should I do with you two?"

"Please forgive us," Jessie pleaded, jabbing Meowth and James so neither of them would dare to say anything, "We were only passing through. We'll be on our way now."

"No, please stay, what we are talking about concerns you as well," Ardos smiled.

Taken by surprise, the three of them stayed glued to the spot, wondering what this could possibly be about.

"Aren't you from Team Cipher?" James asked, staring at the two new arrivals.

"Eldes and Ardos are associates of Grand Master Greevil they have come with an interesting proposition. And I would like you two to be the first to try it," Giovanni smirked.

"Really? Thank you, sir," Jessie gushed, hoping that their boss wouldn't ask for the real reason that they had come to see him for the umpteenth time.

"Of course, it would require giving up at least one of your pokémon," Giovanni elaborated, as he scratched behind the ears of his fierce-looking Persian.

"No way—" Meowth began, but stopped speaking as soon as Persian hissed at him, and Jessie poked him in the ribs with her elbow.

"There's no way that we would pass up an opportunity like this one," Jessie answered for Meowth.

"The question still remains; which one of your pokémon are you willing to give up in order for it to become a shadow pokémon?"

"Shadow pokémon—"

This time it was James that gave Meowth a good jab in the ribs.

"If you keep talking; you'll be the one who's going, Meowth," Jessie hissed.

"We have reached an agreement then," Ardos said, adjusting his glasses again, "Team Cipher will await you and the other Rocket operatives in our secret base in Orre. Until then..."

The door was slammed shut, as Jessie, James, and Meowth were thrown out of the office.

"I guess we don't need to tell the boss about what happened last week," Meowth said.

"The sooner we get to Orre, the better," Jessie whispered, ignoring the looks from people that were passing them.

O.O.O.O

"Check this out!"

Brock held up a colorful poster, which displayed images of the Pyrite Coliseum, Realgam Coliseum, Phenac Stadium, and Mt. Battle.

"Wow!" Ash grinned at the thought of a brand new adventure; he took the poster from Brock, and marveled at the pictures of triumphant trainers in the coliseums, and on Mt. Battle.

"I heard that Orre was really dangerous," Max said, "Some of the cities have pretty much gone to the dogs."

"There hasn't been a region yet that has been able to stop me from going there," Ash proclaimed proudly.

"Yeah, but there have been kidnappings, you've lost Pikachu on a number of occasions, gotten lost…need I go on?" May asked smugly.

"Shut up," Ash muttered.

A second later, the doorbell rang, and Ash raced out of the living room to receive the visitor.

"Hi, Professor Oak—mom went out to buy a few things for dinner, but she'll be back soon," Ash greeted.

Professor Oak seemed to be anxious about something. He ran his hand through his hair, before saying, "That's good, but what I came to tell her concerns you as well."

"I—"

"Professor Oak! It's nice to see you."

"Hi Brock," he replied.

"Well, no use standing around here. Come in, Professor Oak," Ash smiled.

It wasn't long before Ash, Brock, May, Max, and Professor Oak were sitting in the living room of Ash's house.

"What's wrong?" asked May, "did something bad happen?"

"Well," Professor Oak said, grinning nervously, "I don't mean to frighten any of you, but something unfortunate has indeed taken place."

"What?!" Max inquired, nearly on the edge of his seat waiting for the answer.

"An associate of mine, a Professor Krane, has informed me that the safety of Orre is in jeopardy."

"Why?" asked Ash, "last I heard it was pretty much a desert wasteland; the only thing that kept people going there was Mt. Battle and the coliseums."

"No, Ash. He means Cipher. Right, Professor Oak?" Max said.

Professor Oak nodded. "Cipher has an iron grip on the entire region. It's not safe to travel in or out of Orre now-a-days. That's what I wanted to tell your mother about, Ash. There's a lot of risk involved with going there."

"Like that's ever stopped me before!" Ash remarked, who was immediately hushed by Max.

"I remember seeing something about that on the news once," Brock admitted, "Cipher has total control over the region, and who can travel in and out. They do let trainers into the region for things like Mt.Battle. Unfortunately, you have to sign up for that, and signup closes soon."

Ash couldn't believe what he was hearing. He stared at Brock in disbelief for a few seconds before saying, "What are we waiting for? Signup closes soon, and I want to go to the coliseums!"

He bolted towards the door, before Brock caught him by his shirt collar.

"Do you even know where the signup is being held?" Max asked Ash, having a feeling about what the answer would be.

"No," Ash replied sadly.

Professor Oak checked his watch, "Oh dear. You're never going to make that signup now. But, I have an idea. I'm going to see Professor Krane in a couple of days, so I'd be able to take all of you to Orre, as long as your parents agree."

"Really? That'd be great," grinned May.

"Mom will _never_ let us go," Max grumbled, "she'd be too worried about how we would fare in a desert region."

"Right," sighed May.

"Don't worry I'll talk to your parents," Professor Oak said, "Though if they do refuse, I can't do much about it."

"We—"

May was cut off by a loud rapping on the front door.

"Ash! Ash! You locked the door! Could you open it?" Mrs. Ketchum called from the front door.

As soon as Ash opened the door, his mom came into the house, carrying so many bags of groceries, it seemed as though she would fall over. She dumped the groceries on the table, before turning to face Ash.

"It seems quite a few people stopped by," his mother grinned, before beginning to put away groceries.

"Mom, Brock just told me about Mt.Battle in Orre. Can I go?" Ash asked, bursting with excitement.

At that moment, Ash's mother stopped what she was doing, making sure that she had heard that proposal correctly. Normally she had little objections with Ash's travelling, only worrying about him in the same way any parent would in that situation. Orre, however, was a different matter entirely...

"Ash, Orre's a dangerous place--I wouldn't want you to go. It's too dangerous there."

"But Mom," Ash whined, "I'll be fine; besides, Professor Oak is going to take us."

Mrs.Ketchum spotted Professor Oak in the living room, talking to Brock and May about the trip. She had faith that he would be able to get Ash to Orre and back safely, however, she still wasn't sure.

"How is he going to get you there?" she asked.

"I don't--" Ash began.

"A boat to Gateon Port," replied a voice, "from there, we will drive to the Pokemon HQ."

Mrs.Ketchum smiled, having noticed the person who was standing behind Ash.

"Professor Oak, it's nice to see you. I have a friend who lives in Gateon Port; Acri is her name. She'd be a good guide around Gateon Port," she remarked.

Professor Oak nodded, "It's nice to see you too. As for Acri, I'm sure that she'd be able to help us a lot. I haven't taken the boat to Gateon Port yet, and don't know my way around that city."

"So can I go?" Ash asked again, looking between the two adults for a moment, trying to judge the answer from their expressions.

"Okay," his mother sighed, "just be careful."

Ash couldn't believe his ears. He was now going on his next great adventure.

"To Orre!" he exclaimed, forgetting that the rest of his friends hadn't gotten permission from their parents yet.

O.O.O.O

"Remind me why we're here again?" James asked, dragging his bag into the small room that Jessie, Meowth, and himself would be sharing. He set the bag down next to one of the small cots, before turning to glance at Jessie.

"We're here because the boss sent us here," she replied; Meowth nodded, "Besides, do you think that he wants to know about what happened last week?"

"...No," James sighed.

"No, the less he knows about that the better," Meowth added, jumping out of the way when the doors to the compartment slid open, revealing a Team Cipher member, dressed in the usual silvery armour.

"Jessie, James," he addressed them, before continiuing, "Lovrina, the Cipher Adminastrator in charge of this base, requests that you two, and the other Team Rocket arrivals come to the meeting room to discuss a plan that she has devised--well, is carrying out. The real plan was thought up by the brilliant Ardos. A plan that involves infultrating several places that are not completely under Cipher's control--that includes attractions that trainers are drawn to from all regions--"

"And the twerp is bound to be there," James interrupted.

"Tell Lovrina we accept," Jessie hissed.

"Yeah!" agreed Meowth.

The Cipher Peon smirked, "Very well, then. To get to the room, take the elevator down the hall up to the second level. It's the first door on your left. You can't miss it."

"Oh, we'll be there," Jessie assured him, in a voice that served to scare both James and Meowth, "We wouldn't want to miss an oppurtunity like this..."


	2. Chapter 2

Jessie and James had never been in a meeting room so large. It stretched from one end of the hallway, all the way to the other end of the hallway. There had to be at least twenty Cipher Peons there; and there were probably about thirty Rockets mixed in.

But there was only one reason that they were all there. It was to hear Lovrina assign them tasks to carry out in the region.

"But what if—"

Jessie elbowed her partner. "If we're going to do anything right, we're certainly not going to start off by telling Lovrina about that…incident."

"ATTENTION!"

Almost instantly, the noise in the room died down when a Cipher Peon called for their attention.

"Lovrina, Cipher Admin. in the Orre region, is now going to announce who will carry out important tasks here. Some of you will be reassigned to a different base, but some of you will receive the honor of going on a mission. The price for failing the mission—well; let's just say that it isn't pretty—without further adieu, Lovrina!"

The scattered applause gave way to the appearance of a tall, Cipher Admin. with annoyingly long pink hair.

"Hello. I have decided who will be lucky enough to go on a mission. Well, we have a ton of missions that need to be done—but, there's one that needs to be done right away."

"Naps, my assistant, is in charge of a mission to kidnap Professor Krane. As you all know, Professor Krane is the head of a project to create a chamber that purifies shadow pokémon. And because of our deal with Giovanni, we must send Rocke—"

"You, you, and you," Naps said, finishing Lovrina's sentence for her. He had merely pointed to three random members of Team Rocket.

Jessie frowned, "Hey! We're perfectly capable of carrying out this assignment!"

"Shh," James hushed, who was elbowed in return.

Lovrina flipped her hair, before glancing over at Naps. Almost as if by telepathy, the two of them worked out a solution for the situation.

"I haven't heard very much about you two. You're not by any chance Jessie and James?"

"Ye—"

"Never heard of them," Jessie finished for James, clamping her hand over his mouth.

Lovrina nodded, "Well, I don't see why not. We're running short on time. The two of you may go with Naps."

By some incredibly good luck, Jessie and James were able to make it out of the meeting room without any of the Rocket members speaking up about them. Well, it could have been luck, or the fact that most of them hadn't even seen Jessie or James enter or exit the room.

O.O.O.O

"Hey! Isn't that Gateon Port?!"

May leaned over the side of the boat, pointing to a tall lighthouse on the edge of the harbor.

"It is," said Professor Oak, "we should be pulling into Gateon Port within five minutes."

"Excellent!" Ash exclaimed, "I wonder if Orre is ready for us, Pikachu."

May turned around, and rolled her eyes. "Oh please. No region is ever ready for you, Ash."

Ash fumed, "Like—"

"Guys—could you stop fighting a few seconds?" Brock asked, gazing up at the sky.

It was perhaps the best day for taking a boat someplace. The sun was out, making the sea glisten in the light. Wingulls and Pellipers flew overhead, searching for food. And there were no other boats in the harbor, except…

"Whoa! Look at that boat!" Max exclaimed, pointing to a luxury cruiser that seemed as though it had pulled into the harbor a while before they had even come close to Orre.

"I wonder who that belongs to," Ash said, marveling at the sight of the beautiful cruiser.

"Probably somebody famous," suggested May.

They had just passed the lighthouse, and the captain of the boat had sent a few sailors with orders to make sure that the boat was securely tied in at the dock. A few others went inside the cabins to retrieve the luggage for the boat's passengers.

"Let's go!" Ash proclaimed, and luggage in hand, he stepped off the boat, and raced towards the entrance of Gateon Port.

"Ash, wait up!"

"Pika, pika!"

Ignoring his friends' cries for him to wait for them, he continued to run until he bumped into something rather large.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, kid."

Ash looked up to see a tall man with blonde hair standing in his way. He quickly grabbed his suitcase, and mumbled an apology, before beginning to walk away.

"I didn't say that you could walk away!"

Before Ash could respond to this, the stranger released a sinister looking Zangoose from its pokéball.

"If it's a battle that you want, you got one! Go, Grovyle!"

Ash tossed Grovyle's pokéball, releasing the pokémon for the fight.

"Stop this battle at once!"

Ash blinked back the harsh sunlight, and when he did, he realized that three men were standing by him and the stranger, one of them looking as though he was old enough to be the father of the other two.

"I'm afraid that we can not allow this," stated the oldest man, the other two nodding in agreement.

"Wait!"

Before Ash knew it, one of the men had stepped in to battle in his place, and he hadn't had a say in the whole affair.

"I can battle him myself!"

No answer.

"Ash—where have you been?" asked May, "Professor Oak says that we're going to the Pokémon HQ now."

He nodded, and followed May to where Professor Oak, Max, Pikachu, and Brock were waiting for him.

"Now, let's see," Professor Oak remarked, checking his watch, "Professor Krane is supposed to pick us up in about ten minutes."

"But it's always good to be early, isn't it?" A voice inquired.

The group turned to see a man of medium build with messy brown hair, wearing a lab coat standing a few feet away from them.

"Krane; how nice to see you."

Professor Krane smiled, and adjusted his glasses. "It's very nice to see you again, Oak. And these are the adventurers, correct?"

"I'm Ash."

"I'm May."

"My name's Brock."

"And mine's Max."

"It's very nice to meet all of you. It's nice to see some people that have taken an interest in the region. These are such dark times—the spirit of adventure has pretty much been crushed. Well, except for Michael, that is."

"Who's Michael?" Ash asked, "And does he have pokémon?"

Professor Krane chuckled, "Why don't we go to the Pokémon HQ right now. You can meet Michael, Ash."

Ash nodded. It seemed as though almost as soon as he had arrived in Orre, he had gained a rival— a rival that didn't even know him yet.

O.O.O.O.

"How far is Pokémon HQ from here?" James inquired, shoving another box into the hover truck that they were to take to kidnap the Professor.

"Shh," Jessie hushed.

"Yeah," agreed Meowth, "we don't want to get on their bad side."

"Get in the truck," barked Naps, causing Jessie, James, and Meowth to all jump into the truck with surprising haste.

Naps sat down in the driver's seat, and started the truck, while Jessie, James, and Meowth were shunted into the back seat of the truck, the second that the powerful engine revved up.

"Hold on. These things go pretty fast."

"You could have told us that earlier! Jessie shrieked, holding onto her seat with all her might.

O.O.O.O.

"Here we are."

A large building with a pokéball on top stood proudly in the distance. Even though they weren't very close to the building yet, they could see many researchers milling out both inside the building, and outside.

"Wow!" Max marveled, "the most brilliant minds in the Orre region all gathered in one place.

Professor Krane chuckled, "Well, it's nice that you think so. We've been working tirelessly on a new project that I hope Professor Oak will be able to help us with. The sooner that we complete the proje--"

"Go! Eevee! Use bite on Sentret!"

Everyone turned to see a short, red-haired boy with an Eevee standing in front of him. Opposite the red-haired boy was a teenager with brown hair that had just called out a Sentret.

The Eevee charged, clamping down on the Sentret's tail. In return, the Sentret whacked it with its tail, sending it flying back to its trainer.

"Michael, we're back."

Ash assumed that the red-haired boy had to be Michael. He had no idea why, but just watching him battle made him certain that it was him.

"Not now," the red-haired boy said, still completely focused on what his opponent was about to do.

"Now, Sentret," commanded Michael's opponent, "use scratch!" It lunged forward, compelled to scratch the other pokemon because of the orders that its trainer had given it.

"Dodge, Eevee, now!"

Eevee swirved out of the way in the last second, avoiding being hit by mere centimeters.

"Wow! That's one incredible pokemon," May said, Max and Brock nodding in agreement.

Professor Krane adjusted his glasses, "Michael is considered to be a prodigy--he's lived here at the HQ for his entire life. He takes after his father."

"Lucky!" exclaimed Max, "I would love to live in a place like this!"

Ash didn't hear what they were saying. He was too absorbed in watching the battle. Michael's Eevee was incredible; it was obviously trained with u--"

"So, did you enjoy the battle?" asked a voice.

"AH!"

The battle had ended, and Michael had emerged as the victor. His opponent had just called his Sentret back into its pokeball. Ash stared at Michael for a second. He had red-hair, was rather short...

"I'm ten."

Ash stared at him for another few seconds, "How di--"

Michael shrugged, "It happens a lot."

"Why don't we go inside?" suggested Professor Krane, handing everyone their suitcases from the car, "I have something that I would like to talk to Professor Oak about."

In what seemed like a few seconds, everyone had rushed off in different directions. May had gone to find a bedroom to store her stuff, the two professors had gone inside the other side of the HQ, the side that led to the research facility, and everyone else had decided to stay with Michael.

"So, Michael, you must've trained your Eevee for years to be that good," Brock remarked.

Micheal pondered his statement for a moment before saying, " 'Bout a year."

"A _year_?" Ash asked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah."

As soon as the conversation died down, Ash began looking around. From the outside, the place looked rather small. Well, the building anyway. The land that the building was on was rather large. There were trees all around the property, and numerous scientists milling about the outdoors. The second that the four of them entered the HQ, it was apparent that the research facility was in fact twice the size that it appeared to be.

They had entered the section of the facility used for housing. There were rooms upon rooms in that area of the building--three of them sectioned off per family.

"Let's see...we really don't have that much room for you guys to stay with us," Michael admitted, "one of the rooms that we have is my sister Jovi's. Hmm...well, May could probably stay with her, and the other room is my mom's. So...you guys could probably squeeze into my room."

When they saw Michael's room it was fairly obvious that staying with him would be kind of difficult, as he had magazines, books, and all manners of stuff that one could not name all around his room.

Just when Max, Brock, and Ash had all set down their belongings there was a loud--

CLANG.

And then a few muffled screams.

"What was that?" cried Max, his eyes wide.

The four of them raced out of the building, closely followed by May, who had been in Jovi's room. When they got outside, they saw something fairly surprising.

A man in silverly armor was dragging Professor Krane away, bound and gagged.

And someone rather familiar was with them.

"Oh no.." muttered Ash.


End file.
